Every night I’ve gone out this week, Myspace has come up in conversation. When I’m sitting with my intellectual friends I admit sheepishly to having a profile on said site. When yelling across the crowded bar with my clubbing friends, I proclaim my Myspace identity proudly. But what has become true in either circle is that Myspace is here. Whether or not it will be here to stay, I can only guess, and probably wrongly. I’ve never been good at predicting societal trends, despite having a degree in sociology. Go figure. People are still a mystery to me.
What I wanted to write about here, or perhaps confess, is why I respond so differently to these two groups of people regarding Myspace. As an intellectual I realize that Myspace is serving my networking needs while simultaneously reducing me to a set of socioeconomic facts and figures that it can sell to advertisers and the like. As an intellectual, I also realize that I am against this. That advertising is one of the major aberrations in our culture today. I won’t bust out the studies and documentaries we’ve all seen linking magazines to anorexia, or MTV with sexual behavior. If you haven’t been living under a rock for the past twenty years you’ve heard all of this stuff enough times to accept it as empirical fact in casual conversation.
But to this argument I have to say, when are we not bombarded with advertising? Most of the billboards I see each morning when I go jogging are in Spanish, and I’m not naive enough to believe that it is merely coincidence that I live in a predominately Hispanic neighborhood. I know that somewhere along the line the ethnic makeup of my zip code was uploaded into a database somewhere that was then accessed by the various agencies involved in marketing whatever products grace the billboards, newspaper inserts, magazine racks, etc. that I encounter on a daily walk through my own neighborhood.
Article comments
1 - Matthew Milam
I was up there for a minute. But I got bored and found no one of interest.
2 - Victor Lana
Jesus Christ is on Myspace? Hmmm.
3 - JP
So are Elvis and John Lennon.
The thing I've found helpful is to learn more about someone you may already know casually, which I've done with a couple of friends. Also a way to keep in touch with people you've lost touch with over the years. The success I think comes from the simplicity of establishing a customizable "web page" without having to create all the HTML from scratch - and the networking.
I think it's a bit overrated.
4 - Manon Maru
I have a good friend who works as a journalist and when I broached the subject with him, he said his main concern was the safety of it all. Apparently in the past few weeks they've done two are three stories about Myspace and stalking/pedophiles. He worries that the information is too public, and leaves us vulnerable to identity theft ect.
5 - Anthony johnson
Blame the little folk young people the mess it up for everyone...and remember you can be 40 and still be like little folk or young people if you dont use your brain!!!
6 - Devante Jenkins
So, you guys gonna add me as a friend or what?
7 - Daniel Vaughn
I read it, better late than never...